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''On my way back to Heathrow, I was reviewing the footage I had shot and had a disquieting feeling that the man I had filmed being thrown to the ground was indeed the same man who died that day,'' he said.

''Over the weekend I confirmed through pictures released by the UK media that it was Ian Tomlinson.''

Despite allegations of assault by police, no concrete evidence had emerged of police attacking Mr Tomlinson.

''It was then that I decided to bring the video public, for the sake of the Tomlinson family, and getting to the truth of what happened to him,'' said Mr La Jaunie.

After seeing the footage, campaigners and relatives of Mr Tomlinson were left feeling there had been a cover-up.

The video was passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and an inquiry launched into who was responsible.

Pc Simon Harwood, a member of the Territorial Support Group, admitted he had been responsible for pushing Mr Tomlinson but, to the fury of relatives and campaigners, prosecutors decided against pursuing a conviction.

Two years after the death, the inquest was the family's last chance for justice.

Unlike the hearing into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, jurors were told they could deliver an unlawful killing verdict and fresh action by the Crown Prosecution Service could depend on their findings.

Pivotal to finding a verdict of unlawful killing was deciding whether to discredit evidence from pathologist Dr Freddy Patel in favour of reports from Dr Nat Cary and Dr Kenneth Shorrock, who ruled that Mr Tomlinson died of internal bleeding.

The jury also had to decide whether Pc Harwood was a liar.

The officer had been forced to face relatives with his version of events for the first time.

In the most dramatic scenes of the month-long hearing, family lawyer Matthew Ryder, QC, accused the officer of making up ''rubbish'' and telling ''lies'' in a bid to get off the hook.

When the officer claimed his decision to shove Mr Tomlinson in the back came after he walked into a police line, Mr Ryder said: ''I suggest to you the answer you are trying to give is absurd.''

An unprecedented volume of CCTV images, police helicopter footage and hand-held video recordings was painstakingly sifted through by investigators in a bid to provide final clarity over the death.

The footage showed Mr Tomlinson cutting a lonely figure as he staggered away from a police cordon. He had been drunk but showed no signs of aggression.

In his Millwall FC T-shirt, the newspaper seller gestured to police and appeared angry after being sent tumbling to the ground.

He then walked unsteadily away from the officers before collapsing flat out in Cornhill, near St Michael's Alley.

He died 40 minutes later after poignantly uttering: ''they got me, the f*****s got me''.